Last month, President Barack Obama visited Navistar’s Wakarusa, Ind., manufacturing facility to celebrate the award of a $39 million federal grant to develop and build the next phase of clean vehicles: zero tail pipe emission all-electric trucks.

Through this U.S. Department of Energy Grant, Navistar intends to build 400 all-electric vehicles in 2010, with the goal of producing several thousand vehicles annually in the coming years. At least initially, these trucks will be targeted to urban businesses where stop and go driving would otherwise consume large amounts of fuel, such as utilities and pick-up and delivery companies.

“Vehicles with a range of a hundred miles that are all-electric and can be charged overnight, there’s no doubt they could be very beneficial in places like New York City and other concentrated urban areas,” notes Darren Gosbee, director, hybrid strategy and execution, Navistar.

This presidential funding announcement marks the latest step in Navistar’s ongoing commitment to advancing the latest clean vehicle technologies. In 1989, Navistar was the first original equipment manufacturer to release the smokeless diesel engine and, in 2001, Navistar was the first engine manufacturer to gain certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for meeting particulate and hydrocarbon emissions standards—six years ahead of schedule.

Navistar was also the first to enter assembly-line production of commercial diesel hybrid trucks and school buses. Recently, the OEM reached a major milestone when its hybrid vehicles exceeded five-million real-world miles after less than two years on the road.

The current hybrid line-up includes the Class 6 medium-duty International® DuraStar® Hybrid, which has been strongly-received in the municipal work truck market, and the Class 7 International DuraStar Hybrid Tractor, which is proving particularly effective for general freight haulers and food and beverage distributors with diminished loads. This past spring, Navistar also introduced the Class 7 severe service International WorkStar® Hybrid 4x4, the industry’s first four-wheel-drive commercial truck.

“The continued success of these trucks on the road demonstrates not only the reliability of hybrid technology, but also the potential for significant fuel savings and emissions improvement within real-world applications,” says George Survant, director of fleet services for Florida Power and Light and chairperson of the Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF) Working Group.

And now, with government support behind the development of the industry’s first purpose-built all-electric truck—one that’s been designed from the ground up as an electric vehicle—Navistar is achieving the pinnacle of clean vehicle technology: zero tailpipe emissions.

For more information, go to: http://www.navistar.com/portal/site/NavistarDotCom/
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Even as its usage grows, biodiesel is still an oft-misunderstood fuel source. “People confuse it with all sorts of things: most commonly ethanol and raw vegetable oil,” says Roger Gault, technical director of the Engine Manufacturer’s Association (EMA). But good quality biodiesel is not a raw product; it’s a clean-burning alternative fuel, and designated as such by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation.

And biodiesel is not the same as ethanol, which is a renewable biofuel made primarily from corn and intended for blending into gasoline for use in gasoline-powered engines. Instead, biodiesel is produced from domestic, renewable resources such as plant oils, animal fats, used cooking oil, and other sources. And while it contains no petroleum, when you’re talking about biodiesel use in a vehicle, for the most part you’re talking about some percentage blend with petroleum.

Until recently, Navistar and most engine manufacturers approved the use of up to a “B5 blend,” which includes five percent biodiesel. But earlier this year, ASTM International—one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world—published a B6 to B20 fuel specification that’s been agreed upon by the industry.

Navistar currently allows any biodiesel blend up to B5 without voiding the engine warranty. Following ASTM’s adoption of a biodiesel standard, Navistar now allows blends up to B20 without voiding the engine warranty, but any blend B6 to B20 must follow the ASTM standard. Not only do these standards establish a minimum level of quality for both producers and users, it also helps support the growth of biodiesel as an established alternative to pure petroleum fuel.

Fuel source challenges and opportunities

Blends up to B20 can be used in most diesel engines with little or no modifications. But traditionally, one of the biggest challenges has been a lack of widespread availability. While the National Biodiesel Board says more than 170 companies in the U.S. are actively marketing biodiesel, “it’s basically feedstock constrained at this point,” says Gault. “That means there are biodiesel plants out there without enough feedstock to run at full capacity.”

Soy is one of the major feedstock sources for biodiesel, but plenty of other non-food sources are being explored. Last month, more than 100 researchers gathered for a summit exploring algae’s potential as an oil feedstock resource to make biodiesel. One of the major benefits, according to Dr. Richard Sayre, the Director of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels, is that the algae-based product can be produced on land not suitable for other uses.

Biodiesel usage is also sporadic, and driven by different factors in different geographic locations. For example, while Minnesota has a B5 mandate (all diesel fuel in the state must be a minimum of five percent biodiesel), Illinois has a tax incentive structure that rewards the sale of up to B11 blends. “But I think you’re going to see more and more pumps going up to B20 [now that ASTM published its B6 to B20 fuel specification standards],” notes Gault.

Transition tips

There are definite benefits to running biodiesel—primarily a reduction in greenhouse gases and other regulated emissions. And according to the National Biodiesel Board, 50 million miles of B20 field testing showed fuel consumption, horsepower, torque, and haulage rates that were similar to conventional diesel fuel.

Still, as with any new technology, it’s important to educate yourself and your employees before making the shift. For one thing, biodiesel tends to have degraded cold-flow performance, which means it contains solids (primarily waxes) at higher temperatures than petroleum diesel. Plus, it acts as a solvent. “If you have deposits built up on the inside of the storage tank or the truck fuel tanks, you can find situations where the biodiesel blend solvency loosens those deposits and they get collected in the engine fuel filter,” notes Gault. “So you generally have to change your filters more frequently until the deposit levels have stabilized.”

Biodiesel also absorbs more water, so a fleet switching to a B20 blend should ensure that onsite tanks don’t have any excess water, which can cause fuel separation and biological growth. Finally, biodiesel also deteriorates faster because it’s an organic compound, which could impact your storage strategy—as well as the type of biodiesel you choose to run.

“You need to understand, there can be a difference in cold weather performance depending on what you’re using for feedstock. We transitioned [from soy-based biodiesel] to animal fat, and while that is a good fuel for many applications, the nature of our fleet made it a poor choice for us,” said David May, specifications manager for the Iowa Department of Transportation, at a Green Truck Summit sponsored by Navistar earlier this year.

“We only turn our tanks a couple of times a year,” May continued. “We go through a majority of our fuel in the winter. And what we found is the fuel we buy in July doesn’t work nearly as well in January. …From a training perspective, you need to be aware of what your infrastructure is; and do plenty of testing and homework in advance.”

The price of biodiesel

The price of biodiesel can also be a hindrance for some fleets. And although biodiesel is currently priced higher than diesel fuel, the volatility of the petroleum market is a reality that’s here to stay. For example, when diesel prices skyrocketed to $4 a gallon last summer, B20 was the less expensive fuel.

For those fleets interested in transitioning to biodiesel that are particularly price-sensitive right now, Gault recommends considering a preliminary switch to a lower level blend like B5. “If the engines in your fleet are compatible, you can always move up to B20 when diesel prices swing back up,” he says. “The important thing is: If you’re running some concentration of biodiesel, you’ll have less transition issues with things like solvency than if you go back and forth from pure petroleum diesel.”

But perhaps the strongest reason for the small to mid-sized fleet to consider biodiesel is the fact that it’s a way to support a larger effort that includes reducing petroleum consumption. And biodiesel, when combined with today’s cleaner diesel fuel and clean engine technologies, certainly packs a punch in that department.

“The overall reduction in petroleum is important to the security of the country and the viability of our domestic industry base,” Gault says. “When all the small businesses together make that commitment, the volume is substantial…. If more companies switched, it could really establish biodiesel in the marketplace.”

For the latest biodiesel news, go to www.biodiesel.org.